A 34-year-old man is recovering in a Pietermaritzburg hospital after he was wounded during a shoot-out with police in Creighton.
|||Pietermaritzburg - A 34-year-old man is recovering in a Pietermaritzburg hospital after he was wounded during a shoot-out with police in Creighton on Wednesday.
He faces charges of attempted murder, for shooting at police, and robbery.
Investigators, acting on a tip-off, had planned a pre-dawn raid on the man, who was wanted for various crimes.
Police spokesman, Colonel Jay Naicker, said he was linked to a house robbery in Sbomvini Ward, KwaLatha.
“A 48-year-old woman was asleep when two men entered her home.
“They threatened her with a gun and assaulted her.
“The suspects took an undisclosed amount of money, a torch, sweets and a cellphone,” Naicker said.
The second suspect involved in the robbery opened fire on police when they attempted to arrest him.
“He sneaked out a side door and fired shots at police.
“Police returned fire, wounding him.
“Despite his wounds, he managed to evade arrest and disappeared under cover of darkness into the dense bush.
“Police found him at a nearby hospital with gunshot wounds.
“He was transferred to a hospital in Pietermaritzburg after having been stabilised by medical staff,” Naicker said.
The man would appear in court when he was discharged.
In a second raid, police arrested three men in connection with an armed robbery in Mnamameni Ward last month.
“It is alleged that three suspects approached the driver of a bakery delivery truck while he was selling bread to his customers and robbed him of his cellphones and money,” Naicker said.
The Port Shepstone public order police special operations project team, the Creighton SAPS visible policing sector and a crime intelligence operative carried out the raid.
Daily News